Ivanovic out as Nadal, Murray win at Australian Open

Melbourne: Fifth-seeded Serbian woman tennis player Ana Ivanovic blamed a loss of rhythm as nerves overtook her in her first round Australian Open loss to a qualifier here while Spaniard Rafael Nadal showed no sign of his persistent back injury as he and Scot Andy Murray both won the men’s singles in straight sets here Monday.

Ivanovic, who was a finalist in Brisbane two weeks ago, started well and continued her good form to run away with the first set in 21 minutes, only to concede the match 6-1, 3-6, 2-6, to world No.142 Lucie Hradeska, reports Xinhua.

“I didn’t really feel like myself out there,” said Ivanovic. “It was really tough for me to find a rhythm a little bit.”

Ivanovic served 10 double faults but she did not solely blame her serving as a reason for the shock loss.

“It was really I think all around the game,” she said.

“I really felt like I couldn’t really put so much power on my serve or the ground strokes. In Brisbane my serve was on such a good level. I really felt like I improved in the off-season.”